[blackrabbit]

For the last few weeks my E92 steering has just felt a bit odd. Its been hard to describe the sensation but its just felt unsure and ive been rather hessitant on the bends. There was no pulling drifting, just sudden slipping feelings every so often. I put it down to tyre pressures being off, tram lining and the recent icy roads.

However today I found a local Tyre place that had a decent wheel alignment ability. Pic posted below of their findings!!

Needless to say the car now runs a little better

[Ste133]

Interesting. Mine feels a little odd sometimes, but other times it feels fine. I blame it on the runflats which I will be getting rid of as soon as they wear down..

[mistryn]

if you dont mind me asking how much did you pay?

[blackrabbit]

Paid £90 for the check and work..... Not sure what the going rate is, but it seemed reasonable.

[Sir_Pigley]

Not as scary as the lesson I learned in a company car Vauxhall Omega I had in the past.

The steering had been a bit vague and inconsistent for a few days, but as it was going in for a service soon I ignored it. Then just outside High Wycombe one day, fortunately on a slow back road, the steering wheel came away in my hands!!

The boss was still bolted to the column but the airbag assembly and the steering wheel itself just came apart from the boss!

[MEGA]

I know nothing about alignment. I take it those figures are terrible ?

[blackrabbit]

To be honest im not sure how bad the figures are in the scheme of things. All i know is the handling has improved and any picture that shows my wheels looking like a french peasants cart is enough to make me do something.

[Dizzle]

Originally Posted by blackrabbit

any picture that shows my wheels looking like a french peasants cart is enough to make me do something.

Makes you wonder 1. how it got that bad and 2. how it happened. I've had similar scenarios with other cars and the £15 laser alignment has correct it each time.

[ronburgundy83]

Im having similar issues, where the wheels feel as though they are following the bumps in the road. On motorways/A roads its fine but on uneven roads its quite annoying.

After having laser alignment done and correct pressures in the tryes its alot better, but the front run flats are worn on either edge so i am putting it down to this now.

[doughboy]

Matt, any figures in the red bands are out of tolerance.

Originally Posted by blackrabbit

Paid £90 for the check and work..... Not sure what the going rate is, but it seemed reasonable.

That's a fair price with the adjustment, most places will be about £50/60/70 + adjustment.

Most importantly where is the AFTER adjustment report??

Originally Posted by Dizzle

I've had similar scenarios with other cars and the £15 laser alignment has correct it each time.

Unfortunately you can't setup a rear wheel drive car, especially one with a multilink adjustable rear end (i.e. ours) with a basic centre-line laser aligner. It will never be right.

Originally Posted by ronburgundy83

After having laser alignment done and correct pressures in the tryes its alot better, but the front run flats are worn on either edge so i am putting it down to this now.

Again, laser is no good you need a pukka independant 4 wheel aligner.

try any of these www.alignmycar.co.uk

[BGM]

Originally Posted by MEGA

I know nothing about alignment. I take it those figures are terrible ?

yes, look at the positions of the wheel on the o/s/r !!

£90 is a good price, but BMW are haggle-able... i got £100 from a dealer once, boosh

[doughboy]

LOL, the graphic isn't showing the actual wheel angle!!

You'd be going round in circles if it was...

Both rear wheels are toeing in, but the right hand rear is less 'in' than it should be, but still pointing inwards by 1 minute, (1 minute is a 60th of a degree).

Rear toe-in should be 7 minutes according to the green figure on the left rear.

[BGM]

Originally Posted by doughboy

LOL, the graphic isn't showing the actual wheel angle!!

You'd be going round in circles if it was...

err clearly not.. but it is showing a horrific representation look at the arrow above the wheel it's all over in the 'red' getting on towards it's limit.. therefore the graphic is at a crazy angle

the n/s/r is showing straight as an arrow 'representation'... clearing identifying a mismatch. i.e. green = good (straight), red= bad (wonky)

all the other wheels that in the red section, are also graphically depicted as 'wonky' versus the ones that are in the green section are graphically depicted as 'straight'

i'd imagine the graphical representation is linked to the number above it, but it's hard to say for certain as they are all so terrible, lol.... at the end of the day a 9, 7 etc look quite similar on first glance so a graphical view it's easy to spot the biggest differentials quickly

i'm not that daft mate!

[blackrabbit]

I have a post work printout also which shows all wheels back in line both camber and toe. The only one they couldn't sort fully was the OSR which the camber is still out. I will have this looked at by the stealer next time im in.

[A_P]

Dealer =

[BGM]

Originally Posted by A_P

Dealer =

that is amazing!!

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by BGM

err clearly not.. but it is showing a horrific representation look at the arrow above the wheel it's all over in the 'red' getting on towards it's limit.. therefore the graphic is at a crazy angle

Ok, what I meant was the actual angle differences involved are very small.

Eg between the rears, the toe difference is only six 60ths of one degree, i.e imperceptible to the human eye. So the 'red' o/s/r is only a miniscule amount out, enough to make a small difference, but tiny nonetheless.

And the o/s/r, shown as crazy broken toe out, is still actually toe-in by one 60th of a degree, so the graphic is totally misleading in reality.

The graphic wheel angle is obviously not proportional to the actual angle, its just a quick way to shown 'in spec' or 'out of spec'

Still be nice to see the post-work one though.....

[BGM]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Ok, what I meant was the actual angle differences involved are very small.

Eg between the rears, the toe difference is only six 60ths of one degree, i.e imperceptible to the human eye. So the 'red' o/s/r is only a miniscule amount out, enough to make a small difference, but tiny nonetheless.

And the o/s/r, shown as crazy broken toe out, is still actually toe-in by one 60th of a degree, so the graphic is totally misleading in reality.

The graphic wheel angle is obviously not proportional to the actual angle, its just a quick way to shown 'in spec' or 'out of spec'

Still be nice to see the post-work one though.....

ahh fair enough, it's perhaps not quite as sophisticated as i first assumed then

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by A_P

Dealer =

You're a bad boy AP!

[a11y]

Suspension geometry - guide for dummies

I'm waiting until after the worst of the winter potholes have been repaired (could be a while...) before getting another 4-wheel alignment done. Was the best £70 I ever spent on my last car.